Page 45 of Off-Limits Silver Fox Billionaire

“Do you even love her?” she threw at me. The question hit me like a rock in the chest and stole my breath. “You know Bree is a sucker for love right? She falls too easily… She’s weak. I can bet she’s drooling over you on her pillow right now, wishing you could steal her away into the sunset and ask her to be your wife. Is that what you want? Do you plan to marry Bree?”

Iris stared me right in the eyes while she questioned in her sharp tone. She crossed her arms over her chest and continued. “I guess not, so does she know that? Does she know that you’re never going to? Or do you let her think you’re in love with her so you can get what you want?”

“I’m not using Bree,” I corrected. “And it’s not as simple as you think. I really do care about her and I know that what you’re doing is hurting her. You two can talk things out.”

“I don’t want to talk things out,” Iris continued.

This time she picked her things from the table and walked out of the kitchen. I heard her room door slam, then I sighed and pulled out a chair to sit.

I combed my fingers through my hair, closed my eyes and massaged my temples for a bit. Iris was right about one thing though… Bree and I probably had different mindsets on the entire relationship deal.

Bree was a sweet, innocent woman, and I didn’t want to hurt her. Perhaps Iris was right? Perhaps I would end up hurting Bree?

I stayed in the kitchen for a long time, and Iris came downstairs again to find me there.

She stood by the entrance in silence for a long time, then she finally walked into the kitchen and sat beside me. “Okay maybe I’m a little stubborn,” she said as she put a hand on my arm. “But it’s because this is … You and Bree should never have…”

“I know,” I told her, then turned to face her so I could stare into her eyes. “I never thought I would be having this kind of conversation with my daughter about her best friend either, but it just happened, and …”

“Are you in love with Bree dad?”

I didn’t answer the question because I couldn’t risk letting myself get hurt again. Jenny had ruined me when she left, and I couldn’t handle such pain again.

“If you’re in love with her then…”

“It doesn’t matter,” I told her. “Bree is young, and she has her life ahead of her. What I feel doesn’t matter…It’s all about what she wants in the end.”

Iris pressed her lips together and her hand dropped from my arm after some time before she released a deep breath. “There’s something you should know dad. There’s something you should know about mom.”

“What about your mother, Iris?”

“Mom is sick dad. She didn’t want me to tell you, but the last time I called the nursing home….”

“What do you mean nursing home?” I interrupted, not understanding what she was talking about.

Iris fell silent again, and I felt a hollow ache form in my chest even before she said the words. “Mom has early onset Alzheimer’s, and I moved her to a nursing home here in Hawaii a while back. She asked me not to say anything to you, so I didn’t.”

20

BREE

“Ican’t believe this is finally happening,” I said to Josh when he came to see me at the bakery. “I’m moving in this weekend, and Allison has been so helpful with making choices for the renovations. Everything is going to be perfect; I can feel it already.”

I kept gushing while he sat and toyed with the pen in his hand. We were at the bakery, and the dining area had emptied out a while ago, so I decided to take a break since there wasn’t any customers.

“What’s on your mind?” I asked Josh when he still didn’t say anything to me. He seemed lost in thought, and I touched his hand a little to gain his attention. “Josh… You seem lost.”

He looked at me, then sighed deeply, and lifted a hand to massage his temples. “I’m sorry,” he apologized with a light smile. “My mind got away from me for a second.”

“Why?” I asked while holding his gaze. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Josh shook his head and cleared his throat. “It’s nothing you should concern yourself with,” he said, then gave me a shaky smile.

“Josh, you know you can tell me…” the doorbell went off, and I stopped before I could finish my sentence. A woman walked into the bakery with her kids, and the boy started jubilating once they realized we had muffins for sale.

“I should take their order,” I said to Josh and squeezed his arm before standing up. I saw him walk out of the bakery as I started attending to the woman and her kids. My worry grew because the entire time he sat with me, he remained quiet and there was no way I could tell what was going through his mind if he didn’t tell me what was wrong.

Later that day, I tried reaching out to Joshagain because I kept thinking about how he left without a word, so I decided to drop by his house. It was also time to sit and talk with Iris as a few weeks had passed and she still wasn’t responding to my texts.

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